Smoky Mountain Stables, Gatlinburg

NOTHING GOOD and rumors of horse beating NO GO PLEASE

thee guys the owners beat there horses i just learned how to write these reviews . our guide i will not give his name. said the owner beats his horse to the point they fall over. SHAM ON YOU. these are animals that are tobe protected by people. we were so upset when he told us i just wanted to share this with u we believe this man.STOP BEATING YOUR HORSES,

Went there 9/4/10 thinking that it would be a wonderful and relaxing way to enjoy the mountains. I was riding "Pet", a mare that I was told that could be lazy and would have to push her at times. She and I were in the rear of the trail ride. She did lag behind and I tried to keep up with everyone else. There were several times that she lost her footing going down a hill,wasn't sure if she was going to go down or not. After that she hesitated at each downward slope and I did not push her. Fearful that she may have herself I started to mention it to the manager after we got back. He was rude and abruptly stopped me saying "there's nothing wrong with that horse, she's fine" I sat there for a little while and watched as they put Pet in line for the next ride, not even having checked for a possible injury. My impression is that they are only out to make as money as possible in a day and are not concerned about the horses.

I wsh to complain about the Smoky Mountain Stables on N. Hwy 321 in Gatlinburg, TN. On Sunday August 1, 2010 my family went there for a ride. I was placed on the horse named “King Kong”. They told me it was their biggest horse, even though I am only 160lbs, and I am smaller than many of the other riders that were there that day. They assured me it was their best horse. I was surprised that we were given no instructions. They merely helped us onto the horses, told us not to pull back too hard on the reins, not to let them eat, and then we were off! After we were 10 minutes into the ride the employee leading the pack informed us that due to rain the horses did not ride the previous day and would be on edge and overly anxious to run and misbehave. All along the ride many of the horses did act unruly, and many stopped to eat vegetation on the trail. The employee leading the pack yelled at the riders to pull back on the harnesses to stop them. At one point one rider’s horse got out of control and all her friends were calling for help. The leader only yelled at her to keep up! About 45 minutes into the ride “King Kong” began to eat vines on the path. When I pulled back on his harness he went into violent convulsions and tried to buck me off five or six times. My left hand came down hard on the saddle horn. (My hand swelled up very badly, and even today I cannot use it without experiencing pain.) The leader yelled at the horse, but offered no assistance. He later said he had never the horses act so badly. The next day I called to discuss my problem, but the manager “Larry” (he would not give me his last name) would not listen to anything I had to say. He would not even let me complete a sentence! He yelled at me, then hung up on me! I realize I have no legal recourse regarding my injury, but I must complain about such unprofessional treatment. This was a horrible experience for me and my family.

I lived in the area all my life untill 7 years ago .moved to the midwest. it is nice here ,but nothing compares to the nc mountains .i am moving back this summer.

My wife and I recently rode here and had a terrible experience. Our guide was very nice, but some of the other staff was very rude. One of the staff (a man, late 50s, round body with a white mustache) made a rude comment to my wife about how she couldn't ride a horse properly. It was his fault because he set the length of the stirrup on one side longer than the other. Despite who was at fault, the comment was not necessary. He also scolded me like a small child because I halted my horse to take a photo of my wife at the end. I'm not sure what the hurry was because the weather was poor and nobody else was there to ride. Even in good weather, the scenery on the ride would not be very good. Overall, with rude staff and sub par scenery, I strongly recommend staying away from this outfit. Check out the ride at Cades Cove in the Smoky Mountain National park. The staff is nice and there is A LOT better scenery. You are almost guaranteed to see wildlife. It was raining and we still saw deer and bear in the Cove.

According to our experience this place is a horse riding factory that only cares about taking your money and getting as many rides out as it can in a day. A "walk up and ride" stable it will send out 1 hour rides as fast as people show up. The horses are tame and sweet but older and go out on hourly rides continuously during an 8+ hour day. The guide we had was only interested in keeping the horses as close as possible requiring the guests "to kick them up" every few minutes to close the gaps. The guide expressed immense bordedom throughout the ride and seemed to care very little about the guests he had with him. His highlight of the trip was scaring a brand new yourng rider into tears by his insensitive actions and comments. Being an avid rider and having ridden at dozens of places all over the world this is the first place I actually hated the experience. The only good thing about this place was the view. I'd skip this place completely and look for another stable in the area.

We went on a 2 hour trail in May, it was a really muddy trail so we felt bad for the horses, but the trails were fun and pretty, lots of creaks to go over. Our trail leader however wasen't that great. She smoked a lot and we had to breath it, also she kept after my friend to kick her horse to make him go faster, that made the trip less enjoyable. I enjoyed it, but I wouldn't go again.

We went last summer and my oldest son (age 11 at the time) rode Nelly. She isn't a very good horse for someone who has never rode. This was his first time to ever ride a horse and she wasn't very cooperative but it was so funny and we all still enjoyed it. My youngest (he was 9 years old at the time) was lucky and ended up with a really good horse. If you go, I would suggest letting them know if you have never rode before so you can get a better horse for those with no experience. We're going to try it again this summer but my oldest son said he was telling them that he's not riding Nelly again lol. If you are looking for a view, you won't see one here. It's still fun, though.

I went and chickened out because I saw several horses come running off of the trail bigger than me!